Faith Talk: Living as Disciples

Use these devotional ideas with your kids to explore how God uses discipline to lovingly shape us into the disciples we are called to be!

Week 1: Discipleship takes discipline
Read Mark 3:13-19; Matthew 11:28-30
• Make a list or draw some of Jesus’ disciples. Include your name/picture—you’re a disciple too!
• Google yoke: if you are on one side of a yoke, who is pulling the other side?

Week 2: Disciples follow Jesus
Read Luke 9:23-24
• Have you ever walked in another person’s footprints, either in the snow or sand? Play follow the leader together this week!
• Jesus is our leader, but how do we follow him?
• Jesus loves us unselfishly—he even died on the cross for us! Pray that the Lord Jesus will show us how to love like he does.

Week 3: God disciplines with love
Read Hebrews 12:4-13
• Is God’s discipline punishment?
• Why does God discipline us?
• Check out this You-Tube video on horse training:



• What did you notice about how the adult horse and rider train the baby?
• Does it remind you at all of the way Jesus trains us to follow him? (What is the same; what is different?)

Week 4: Discipleship involves transformation!
Read Romans 12:1-8
• Look up the word transform in a dictionary.
• God likes to change us into something new and glorious! Put a picture of yourself on Facebook or the refrigerator, and put around it a border that says Changed.
• Adults, share with the kids how God’s love has changed you and your life. Older kids might like to share too.

Week 5: Disciples are fruity!
Read Galatians 5:22-26
• The Holy Spirit grows good “fruit” in our lives—talk about how you see the fruit of the Spirit in each others’ lives.
• Pray to thank God for the Spirit working in you! Ask God to help you grow in an area that still needs to blossom (patience, peace, etc.).
• One of the ways we grow is through serving. Think of a way to serve together this week!

Week 6: Disciples need prayer
Read Luke 11:1-13
• One of the best ways to follow Jesus’ lead is to pray, and then pray some more. At meals or bedtime this week, pray the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:2-4) and talk or think about what each petition means.
• Write a new prayer together and memorize it to pray as a family.

Week 7: Disciples need practice: Scripture reading and service
Read Luke 10:38-42
• Setting at Jesus’ feet is a sign of a disciple. Act out the story of Mary and Martha.
• Being a disciple means listening to Jesus. Read what Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40.
• Listening leads to action: James 1:22-25.
• How will you practice what Jesus taught today?

Week 8: Disciples need rest too
Read Mark 1:35-39
• Where do you go when you want to rest or talk with God?
• Draw a picture of yourself on vacation or think of a perfect vacation spot you want to visit and then look it up on the Internet.
• Take a peaceful walk together at a nearby park or trail. Look for the beauty of God through the beauty of creation!


Beth Guikema-Bode, pastor at Fuller Avenue Church and mother of four great kids.